Everyone is
pretty clear by now - Jazwares has picked up a bunch of Cartoon Network
licenses, both new (The
Regular Show) and old (The
Flintstones). They are doing figures in multiple scales,
from little 1" PVC's to 6" action figures, and even plush toys.

When I first heard that Jazwares was including a Space
Ghost figure in the 6" series, I thought "yea,
but Toycom just did thet one that was almost perfect". And then I
looked back at when I reviewed the Toycom toy, and was thunderstruck
to realize it had been 12 years since that figure was on the shelves.
Twelve years!

I'm checking out both Hong Kong Phooey and Space Ghost tonight. I just
knew I had to pick up Space Ghost, but when I saw that Toys R Us was
doing a "buy one get one 50% off sale" I had to snag Hong Kong Phooey
as well. I don't recall ever getting an action figure of him before, so
he's a nice surprise.

These are at Toys R Us right now, and run around $11 each.
There's a Tom and Jerry in this scale as well, and I believe Jazwares
has plans for some additional figures.

Packaging - **1/2
The package is very similar to the smaller scale figures, but there's a
lot more waste with these. They could have fit four or five accessories with the amount of extra space in the bubble.

They also have that same
annoying group shot on the back, which tells you nothing about what
figures are out or what might be planned. That's a big mistake with a
line like this, since buyers may make their decision on buying any one
figure based on what others might be available to go with them.

Sculpting - Space Ghost
***; Phooey **1/2
The plastic used on these figures is a smidge soft, but not nearly as
bad as I'd heard from some folks. I didn't find it to be a problem
overall, but it did mean that the joints were weaker than they should
be - more on that in the Articulation section.

Speaking of the joints, one of
the issues with the sculpt is that it isn't designed to work
particularly well with the articulation. I'm not sure how they could
have managed it considering the weird concepts employed in the
articulation, but it's still an overall issue.

For Space Ghost, scale is his
biggest sculpt problem. The head is a bit small, the hands much too large. These
odd internal proportions throw off the complete look in a somewhat
subtle way.

I'm also not loving the cape,
which is harder plastic than the body and gets in the way of many of
the potential arm poses. The sculpted folds are actually a hindrance,
although I did find that it's attached so close to the torso that it
doesn't drag him over backward as much as I'd expected.

Phooey has the same issues with
the sculpt conflicting with the weird articulation, but his
overall internal proportions are better. He suffers from a lot more
mold lines and textures caused by the cheaper plastic though, and the
darker color of the figure (the basic color isn't painted, but is the
color of the plastic itself) seems to exacerbate the problem, making
the lines, swirls and imperfections more obvious.

Both figures stand about 6"
tall, although keeping them standing on their own is quite the trick.

Paint - **
These are both fairly basic, cheap paint jobs. The cut lines are
sloppy, and edges generally trail onto other areas of the figure -
check out Phooey's white collar for an example.

Overall, this is pretty much
standard mass market discount work, something you'd see on any cheaper
line. These are clearly toys, not collectibles, but this cut rate work
is likely to make kids and parents question the price tag as well.

One other area of concern is the
clear pegs on Space Ghost. Like the earlier Secret Squirrel, they
clearly thought that it wasn't necessary for the pegs in the hips,
shoulders and other joints to be white like the body - clear would work
just as well. It doesn't. Even his red wrists have a clear peg!

Articulation - Space Ghost **;
Phooey *1/2
It's not a lack of articulation that hurts these figures - it's weirdly
designed articulation. There's enough joints, but they work so poorly
that it drops the score quite a bit.

Space Ghost has less of a
problem with the weird joints. He has the usual cut neck, pin and disc
ball shoulders, pin elbows, wrists, ankles and knees, cut thighs, ab
crunch chest and cut waist, and a T crotch with hinge hips. Seems like
plenty, right?

The weirdness comes in for him
on the wrists, where there's almost no movement in the front to back
pin. Add in no cut joint of any kind on the arms - nothing at the
bicep, shoulder, elbow or wrist - and you have no ability to move the
arm across the body. The cool right hand sculpt would look great
pressing the buttons on the left cuff, except for one minor detail -
you can't bring the right and left arms any where near each other
without the necessary cut joint.

His other major problem is loose
joints, especially in the legs. He was one of the more wobbly, floppy
figures I've seen in this scale in quite some time.

But at least he could stand in
certain poses - poor Hong Kong Phooey is defeated by loose joints that
are also poorly designed. The legs have no cut joint either, but they
have a weirdly designed pin knee and ankle that are so loose and soft
that it's almost impossible to keep him upright.

He also has ball (pin/disc
style) shoulders, cut wrists, a cut waist and a cut neck. These all
work pretty much as you'd expect.

And then he has his elbows, done
in the exact opposite way from every other action figure ever released.
Instead of the pin running from side to side so the lower arm can move
forward and back, the pin runs front to back, forcing the arm to only
move side to side. Huh? On top of that, the sculpt only allows the arm
to move the tiniest bit, making the joint ugly and useless - the double
whammy!

Accessories - ***
Each figure comes with one accessory - a sidekick! This is easily the
best feature of these two figures, and might actually tip you over to
buying the Space Ghost. If you already have the Toycom
version, you can add this little Blip the monkey to the display.

Both Blip and Spot (Hong Kong
Phooey's cat who was the actual brains of the operation) are
non-articulated PVC style figures, at about the right scale. The
sculpts are solid, but the paint work suffers from the same sort of
issues as the larger figures.

Fun Factor - **
The paint and sculpt issues wouldn't have hurt these figures a lot in
this category, but the loose, sloppy articulation makes a big impact on
the playability. There's nothing more frustrating to a kid than an
action figure that can't even stand.

Value - **
While the price itself is pretty average, these figures lack the
overall quality of figures in the same ball park. You can snag
these for 'but one get one half off' right now, but that's probably not
going to last, and it assumes you actually want more than one.

Things to Watch Out For -
Weak joints are the only real issue - if they are stuck, be careful
when freeing them up to avoid tearing or breaking.

Overall - Hong Kong
Phooey **; Space Ghost **1/2
Space Ghost has several major problems, including the weak paint and
weaker joints. Add in a modern price tag, and he's not going to be on
the top of anyone's list. He really has two things going for him -
Blip, and the simple fact that he hasn't seen plastic form in 12 years.

If
you really, really want a great Space Ghost in this scale, I suggest
going after the Toycom version. You'll probably pay $35 - $40 for
one these days, but it really is a much nicer figure overall.

If
you can't afford to spend that much, this guy is really you're only
alternative. And if you want to add Blip to your Toycom display, this
is the way to go.

I can't recommend picking up Hong Kong Phooey,
unless you're a serious fan and don't mind the utter frustration of
keeping this guy standing. I won't be picking up any more of the 6"
series based on the quality of these two, but I might hunt up the DVD
releases of their 1960's shows.

Where to Buy -
These are at just about every Toys R Us right now for around $11,
although finding Space Ghost might be a little tougher. I think the
case is even packed, but SG is going to be a more popular guy.

As I mentioned earlier, this
isn't the first time Space Ghost has been made into a collectible.
Here's a guest review of a great
statue, and my review of both the Toycom Space Ghost and
the 'sidekicks'
from the television show.

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